September 12 2012

6:24 PM

By Bill Cooney, PGATOUR.COM Is Phil Mickelson back? His
play in the FedExCup Playoffs would certainly indicate the
affirmative. Johnny Miller isn’t so sure. Not yet, anyway.
"Well, obviously covered Phil last week (at the BMW Championship),
and he's still a guy that doesn't really know where the ball is
going off the tee,” Miller, the NBC golf analyst, said in a
conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “But he did
drive it better. … But he's fun to watch. You never know
where he's going to hit it. He can get it up and in from anywhere.
“I wouldn't call him quote, unquote, ‘back,’
because you never know shot to shot, let alone week to week, what
he's going to do.” In any case, Mickelson has done quite well
of late, especially since he switched to a modified claw putting
grip in the third round of The Barclays. Since his switch,
Mickelson has carded eight of his past 10 rounds in the 60s to lead
him to a pair of top fives at both the Deutsche Bank Championship
and BMW Championship. It put Mickelson at No. 4 in the FedExCup
standings, meaning he wins the FedExCup with a victory at next
week’s TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. "I'm really pleased
with the way my game has come around the last two weeks," Mickelson
said Sunday night after finishing tied for second at Crooked Stick
in Carmel, Ind. Mickelson ranks fifth in strokes gained-putting
this season, and it’s possible that more confidence on the
greens has helped him tee-to-green as well. “Now that he's
putting well, that takes pressure off the big game,” Miller
said. “So I think that's what's happened, he's finally got
true confidence in his putting and that's taken the pressure off
the big game and that's helping him there, too. So East Lake, he
can be a factor if he gets off to a good start.”